Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: 2021 MiLB season finally here
By Hunter Noll
The 2021 MiLB season is here, and so is the Red Sox Prospect Watch
It’s Monday, you know what that means … It’s time for the weekly Boston Red Sox prospect watch.
Wow, does this feel good. 2020 saw the minor league baseball season get cancelled due to COVID, but we’re back in full force, and so is the prospect watch.
Same rules as last time, we’ll be taking a look at each team and dissecting the play of some of the prospects at each level. We tend to keep things pretty positive here, and you should be expecting a lot of wrestling and rap (and some TV show) references. That will all be kept to a bare minimum this week, as this is more just reintroducing all the players.
I would also like to remind everyone that the minors took a year off last year. With that in mind, don’t be worried about any slow starts. Those should all be forgiven seeing how long it’s been since most of these players have had legitimate games.
So without further ado, let’s jump right into it by talking about some of the “prospects” at the Major League level.
Bobby Dalbec has started off slow but is clearly picking up some steam. He is still hitting at just a .194 clip with two home runs and 11 RBI. However, the right-handed hitter has four hits (one home run) and five RBI in his last three games. Alex Cora seems interested in letting Dalbec work out his issues and clearly is starting to get rewarded for it.
Michael Chavis was just called up due to the Enrique Hernandez injury. He went 1-for-6 in his first game but that one hit was a two-run homer. Barring another injury or a hot-streak, he likely won’t be up for long.
Garrett Whitlock has been a revelation for the Red Sox. He came to Boston from the New York Yankees by way of the Rule-5 draft. Despite never pitching in the Majors, he earned a spot in Spring Training. So far, he has appeared in nine game (all out of the bullpen). In those nine games, the lefty has a 1.56 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. Whitlock also 19 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings while holding opponents to a .219 BAA.